Environmental groups in Asia criticized the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) for promoting waste-to-energy (WtE) incineration during a Nov. 5 panel at the 67th Ramon Magsaysay Awards Festival Season.
The groups said that the event advanced “false solutions to the pollution crisis” and aligned with the interests of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
In a letter to the foundation, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and Break Free From Plastic (BFFP) Asia Pacific said the awards, traditionally known for highlighting sustainable and just initiatives, instead “served as a dagger struck into the hearts of communities fighting for their rights to clean air, soil, water, health, and the environment.”
The groups said many communities have “firsthand experience of the toxic impacts of waste-to-energy (WtE) plants.”
The backlash followed remarks from awardee Shaahina Ali, who described incineration as a “transitional solution” to plastic pollution and said newer WtE technologies offer “the best option for the Maldives.”
The groups argued that such framing reinforces international financial institutions’ push to “legitimize incineration as a formal waste management method in the region,” despite environmental and climate risks.
GAIA and BFFP said ADB remains one of the region’s biggest backers of WtE incineration, with “USD 15.3 billion to 49 projects with incineration components” since the Paris Agreement.
They warned that ADB’s financing locks countries into “a linear and unsustainable model of plastic production.”
GAIA’s Mayang Azurin urged RMAF to stop promoting “unethical, inappropriate, and unjust development alternatives,” adding, “RMAF must instead set the development discussions toward empowering community solutions.”
Environmental advocates from Greenpeace Philippines, GAIA Asia Pacific, WALHI Jawa Timur, C-HELP, and the Ecowaste Coalition echoed concerns, calling WtE a “false solution,” a threat to health, and a departure from the foundation’s legacy of uplifting community-driven sustainability efforts.
